Phones laden with pico projectors are not new phenomenon. We have been hearing about them for quite some time now. However, for some reason, they haven’t been able to hit the popularity charts worldwide. Most mainstream mobile phone manufacturers seem to be averse to making projector laden phones – except for Samsung and LG which had tried releasing a few models in the not too distant past. The last projector laden phone from them was the Galaxy Beam – an Android laden phone with a built in projector.
Projectors on phones have never been a priority feature on phones sold in India. This is a market which thrives on low pricing and it was not feasible to offer a projection feature on a device while at the same time, keep the price low.
Then there is also the problem of battery life. If you use the projection feature a lot, it would be futile expecting decent battery life from that phone. However, of late a few Indian phone makers have managed to introduce this feature on their phones and have been on a promotion frenzy. Spice for example has been on the offensive of late with its projector laden phone.
Then there is Intex which announced the IN 8809 projector phone a few days ago. There is one more manufacturer who has had a projector phone for quite some time now. We are talking about G’Five and its G5 projector phone which has been around for the past few months. G’Five though is a Chinese company. Well, we have the G5 for review today. Let’s see how this phone fares in our tests.
The G5 comes in a medium sized box and includes most standard components you would expect as standard accessories. It includes a charger, a decent looking headset, the user manual and a surprise package in the form of a mini tripod stand. The stand is supposed to be used in the projector mode whilst watching movies we presume.
Look and Feel
The moment you take the G5 out of the box you will experience its weight. The phone is much heavier than you would expect it to be. It has rounded edges and the built quality is excellent. It is not plasticky and all and looks like it has been built to last. In fact, this is one of the best built phone from Chinese phone maker. The phone has a rather weird placement of the navigation buttons. Unlike most other phones, the navigation buttons, the menu key and even the call end/receive keys are located at the bottom of the phone. This makes it very inconvenient to use the phone.
I am not sure whose idea it was to place the buttons down there and I am sure you would have a hard time getting used to it. The keypad is decent and the spaced out keys offer a good typing experience. Whatever good done by the keypad has is ruined by the text input experience which is really a hassle thanks to the rather inconvenience way of switching between number mode, dictionary mode and caps mode. The phone does not have a 3.5 mm jack or a micro USB port. All it has is a proprietary port at the bottom which is used for connecting all accessories to it.
Display, Interface
The G5 has a medium sized, 2.4 inch, 262K display with a resolution of 240*360. The display is quite bright but fades out in direct sunlight. The UI of the phone is nothing special to speak of. It is the same as the ones found on all phones that come from Shenzhen. But G’Five has managed to spice it up and make it a tad better looking with its own wallpapers and themes. The higher screen resolution also makes it look better than most other run of the mill Chinese handsets.
Projector
Let’s now talk about the most talked about feature of the phone – the projector. To go to the projector mode you would need to navigate to the projector menu at the bottom of the grid menu. Once you select the projector mode, the display powers off and the image of the phone’s display is projected on to whatever you point the phone at. The projector is okayish in a brightly lit environment but the real fun starts when you switch off the lights. Let us reiterate that this is definitely not the thing to watch long movies on.
The most irritating thing about the phone is that you need to hold the phone by the side for the projector to project the images right side up! This from what I have seen is very uncomfortable. It would be better off if you use the supplied mini tripod for your projection needs. I would also suggest using the projector for powerpoint presentations and short video clips. To answer the basic question: “Is the projector any good?” My answer would be “Yes”. The problem is I don’t see many people using this feature for serious stuff unless they are really short of resources. But it’s a nice feature to have and show off! We will also have a video of the projector at work below.
Multimedia
The phone’s multimedia functionalities is closely linked to its projector. The phone is capable of playing back MP4 and 3GP videos as well as audio files in MP3, wav and AMR formats. The built in music player is quite neat and has various EQ options which should make the music buff in you mighty pleased. But again, things go down the drain when you are reminded about the lack of the 3.5mm jack. With the projector on, you might have a hard time listening to things because the volume is way too low and it would be problematic listening to it with a room full of people. It’s good enough for private screenings though! The phone supports PDF, PPT, DOC and XLS files as well. The phone supports microSD cards and comes with a 1GB card loaded.
Connectivity
The G5 being a low end device does not support 3G networks nor does it have Wi-Fi. You are restricted to just Bluetooth and the standard cable connection. EGPRS is supported though. The phone also comes preloaded with Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo apps so it might satiate the social networking junkie in you. That said, these “apps” turn out to be simple browser links to the respective websites. The G5 is a dual SIM GSM handset – not surprising for a Chinese phone!
Conclusion
The G5 is currently priced at about Rs.5800. This is almost 1.2k lesser than the price of the phone at launch back in January when it hovered around the Rs.7000 mark. At the price at the which the phone retails, it is a decent buy. The projector will keep you engaged for hours. Considering that this phone comes with a projector, I expected it to come with a rather large battery. However, the one I found inside it was rated at just 960 mAH. This is OK for two days worth of normal usage IF you do not touch the projector. With projector on, this would be a little over two hours on a full charge.
That said, frankly speaking the projector seems to be the only reason you may buy this phone for. The overall user experience of the phone is still way off international standards and you might be better of with phones from mainstream players like Nokia and Samsung at this price range. True, those phones might not offer all the features this one does, but at this budget, you expect a phone to do more phone like things like being decent at texting and calling.
When it comes to core functionalities, there is still some way to go for Chinese players to be up there with the best. G’Five has started off with offering a phone with nice buld quality. They would do better if they would be to give a makeover to that UI which frankly, leaves a lot to be desired.
We’re recommending this if you really want to show off your projection abilities and are on a shoestring budget (do remember that this won’t do an easy audio out to go with the projector)!
Video Review, Gfive Projector Phone (G5)
